the Turcorory
joined us at the watering place, much against my will, for I knew that
we should probably be reduced to the disagreeable alternative of either
seeing them perish of thirst before our eyes, or, by assisting them,
running a great risk of perishing along with them.

We left Gooz on the 9th of November, at noon, and halted at the little
village of Hassa, where we filled our water-skins--an operation which
occupied a whole day, as we had to take every means to secure them from
leaking or evaporation. While the camels were loading, I bathed myself
with infinite pleasure for a long half hour in the Nile, and thus took
leave of my old acquaintance, very doubtful if we should ever meet
again. We then turned to the north-east, leaving the Nile, and entering
into a bare desert of fixed gravel, without trees, and of a very
disagreeable whitish colour, mixed with small pieces of white marble,
like alabaster. Our camels, we found, were too heavily loaded; but
we comforted ourselves with the reflection, that this fault would
be remedied by the daily consumption of our provisions. We had been
travelling only two days when our misfortunes began, from a circumstance
we had not attended to. Our shoes, that had long needed repair, became
at last absolutely useless, and our feet were much inflamed by the
burning sand.

On the 13th, we saw, about a mile to the northwest of us, Hambily, a
rock not considerable in size, but, from the plain country in which it
is situated, having the appearance of a great tower or castle. South
of it were too smaller hills, forming, along with it, landmarks of the
utmost consequence to caravans, because they are too considerable in
size to be at any time covered by the moving sands. We alighted on the
following day among some acacia trees, after travelling about twenty
miles. We were here at once surprised and terrified by a sight, surely
one of the most magnificent in the world. In that vast expanse of
desert, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at different
distances, at one time moving with great celerity, at another stalking
on with majestic slowness. At intervals we thought they were coming to
overwhelm us; and again they would retreat, so as to be almost out of
sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. There the tops often
separated from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, dispersed in
the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes they were broken near the
middle, as if str